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  Blackstar Beam Solo update: A NAM on the device and the same NAM played on my phone via the beam acting as a USB interface sounds identical. Except the phone app is normalising the input and output level so for some of the captures it sounds way louder by default. Need to bost the levels in the Beam preset. (Note that this requires you to select input 3 as the input to the phone based modeller and you need to create a “silent” preset on the Beam or you get both sounds at the same time.) The r...

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  Current status: making a NAM capture of my amp. #guitar #GearSquad #NAM

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  This is quite niche but in the spirit of sharing: Here is a free, web-only tool that converts a stereo wav file to a mono wav file of exactly 191 seconds (you can change the length). https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/bb7a1212-8004-4beb-9e35-b4f199e95314 I use this for NAM capture uploads to Tone 3000. Basically, I’m recording the capture in AUM on my iPad connected to a USB audio interface and a reamp box. AUM can save 24-bit 48Khz files, but it’s always stereo, and you have to manually stop...

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  Is there an innovative tyre company whose slogan is “reinventing the wheel”, and if not, why not?

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  I am actually quite astonished by this still. I probably broadly agree with the underlying complaint. The size of the settlement is big enough to be material even to Meta. I didn’t expect that. I’ve two mid-teens who strongly want more social media apps than I’ll give them (but their friends have), and the added complication that next spring the UK may set an (enforceable?) age limit of 16. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyq4gxwe7go

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  I just made one of these and it is super fun and sounds impressive. DIY digital multi effects pedal. Stereo, with a small display and six knobs plus a rotary encoder. https://github.com/bkshepherd/DaisySeedProjects #GearSquad #Guitar #electonics #guitarpedals

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  I’ve made an open source NAM A2 and cabinet IR pedal with a nice sounding plate reverb. Much fun. Sounds great! https://github.com/optilude/AmpSim #Guitar #GearSquad #electonics #NAM

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  RE: https://techhub.social/@optilude/117191164719621024 After some tweaking and sorting out some noise issues, I think this sounds really good now. NAM A2 is very impressive. My current favourite is probably this capture pack, which just sounds good across the board: https://www.tone3000.com/tones/friedman-buxom-betty-gtrmike-27287 #GearSquad #Guitar #NAM

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  The Google app on my iPhone has started adding “live activies” for certain football games. I didn’t ask for this. Just suddenly appeared. Wtf. I deleted the app from my phone.

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  Been having far too much fun building and programming these pedals. Amp sim plus multi FX based on the Daisy Seed: https://youtu.be/F34qNo3hYhQ?is=_N2fpLW5tzUpWbcI #GearSquad #Guitar #NAM #guitarpedals

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  So for reasons of poor judgment and stubbornness I own five headphone modelling amps - Mustang Micro 1 and 2, ToneX Plug, Katana Go, and the Mighty Plug. The ToneX is best but it has some buzz/whine on higher gain that bothers me. I might be about to buy ANOTHER one, the Blackstar Beam Solo. Send help! However - this one now runs NAM A2 captures which is very cool. https://blackstaramps.com/beamsolo/ #guitar #GearSquad

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  I discovered Tailscale recently (late to the party). It’s solved a bunch of security and remote access issues for me. Combined with Nginx Proxy Manager, PiHole (dhcp and local dns) and LetsEncrypt I have a good setup to expose Home Assistant, Next Cloud and various internal administration tools. I bought a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and an Ethernet adapter and stuck it on the back of my router (powered via its USB port), just running Tailscale as a cheap and hopefully reliable entry point into my ho...

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  Welp. I have ordered a hang board and plan to hang it above a door frame like some sort of obsessive. #climbing

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  So I got it into my head that I want a telecaster deluxe with Lollar Deluxe Foil (basically gold foil humbuckers in a wide-range humbucker form factor) and then I was like, why not a Bigsby, and now I’ve spent hours trying to work out what bridge to use for this purpose. I think the Deluxe has strat string spacing and neck and takes a strat Hardtail six saddle bridge normally, and a Bigsby B5 needs a low rear bridge. #Guitar #GearSquad

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  For some reason I instinctively open apps on my Home Screen with blue icons. I used to open Facebook all the time and it’s so inane these days I eventually deleted the app. For some reason I now open LinkedIn all the time instead, which is just as inane most of the time (it’s miraculous that so many people are AI experts just as the AI bubble reaches peak frothiness, isn’t it?). Someone make a good and honourable app with a blue icon please.

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  Does anyone have an above-average understanding of music theory, (ideally jazz) harmony, and guitar practice, that would be willing to review and give me some feedback on an app I’ve built? I’ve created an open source app that includes a music theory reference for guitar, chord scales, chord substitutions, harmonic analysis of simple progressions and a system to manage practice routines. I think it’s starting to be pretty good but I would like some help validating what the content is sound and...

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  A man owned a lake and wanted to skate on it when frozen over in the winter. Unfortunately it was covered in snow and twigs and bird droppings. He didn’t want to pay someone to sweep it. So he invented CURLING and got people to pay to play a game of stone and brooms on his lake instead. #WinterOlympics

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  There is a lot of AI scepticism in my timeline in general, and around software engineering in particular. Much more than there is AI chest-beating (good!) And the concerns are real and valid. But I also think there are things to be excited about. I have been able to build products (digital guitar effects in this case) that previously would have been well beyond my grasp. And they turn out to be really good. And it is enormously fun. Yes you can generate slop with no care for quality. But the c...

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  RE: https://fedi.simonwillison.net/@simon/116235613299250435 I really like Simon’s writings on AI in software engineering. He is always grounded and balanced and he writes well. This introduction (and the set of practices underneath) is well worth bookmarking.

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  I have been working on a DIY reactive load box with IR speaker simulation for playing a tube amp silently - akin to a UA Ox Box or Two Notes Captor X. I think it’s finally done! It was a lot of fun to make. All the hardware and software are open source and there are extensive build instructions. Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQHTY69k00g Docs: https://github.com/optilude/MuleBox #GearSquad #Guitar #electronics

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  I have learned to capture Impulse Responses from speaker cabs. Well, using my Ox Box as a speaker for now. Wave Arts IR Capture does a great job and is free. Previous attempt using Reaper and ReaVerb ends in a UI WTF. Needed a clean amp for the sweep signal and got a tiny TDA2030A based solid state amp from Amazon and soldered some sockets to it. No enclosure so I put it in a cardboard box. Actually sounds decent! Signal chain is USB audio out -> mini amp -> Ox speaker input -...